3 ms·
Sorry, not practical. Intercepting debris requires FAR more delta-v than you may expect. Changing the plane of your orbit is so expensive you just don't do it
by KiwiJohnno 6y ago
Sorry, not practical. Intercepting debris requires FAR more delta-v than you may expect. Changing the plane of your orbit is so expensive you just don't do it. Its cheaper to just launch a new satellite in a different plane. For example, to intercept hubble from the ISS (or vice-versa) you are looking at a velocity change of a bit over 3000m/sec. Compare that to delta-v of just over 9000 m/sec to reach the ISS from the surface of earth.
Lets say you are in a really, really close orbit to your target and you only need to spend delta-v of 100m/sec to intercept . If you only use 90% of the fuel you'd need to perfectly match orbits then you are still going to impact your target at 10m/sec. Thats 36 km/h, which is a very violent collision. You aren't going to just grab your target on the way past.
- rtkwe 6y agoI know plane changes are a real problem but you can get nearly velocity intercepts without matching orbits. The timing is brief but to objects on dissimilar orbits can come to a relative standstill for brief periods when their orbits are setup properly. Also 36 km/h isn't /that/ fast you could have a capture mechanism that absorbs that impact or where it doesn't matter like a net.
- KiwiJohnno 6y agoSorry, I have no idea what you are talking about. I can't see how two objects on dissimilar orbits could possibly be at a standstill relative to each other. I mean, if they are at a standstill relative to each other then their orbits would be identical??